Today has been another jump, and also a good day. I left my peaceful waterfront campsite at the bottom of Lake Ohrid this morning and headed south. My first stop was into town to change my LEK’s into Euro’s. When you’ve never been to a country before and it’s mostly a cash society, you never really know how much money you’re going to need. Anyway, I changed my leftover Albanian money in to Euro’s and hit the road, heading south.
Passing through some wonderful scenery, I felt sad leaving Albania, as I’ve enjoyed being here. The stunning scenery, the challenging roads and the friendliness of everyone I met. By 1030 I was through the Albanian and Greek borders. It was simple, easy and quick. I was heading for Ioannina, which is more or less in the centre of northern Greece. I could have taken the easy route by heading south then west on the main highways but that would be too easy so not long after the border I left the main highway and headed Southwest. My route took me through the mountains and I spent most of the day going up, down and around the mountains. It was superb, with some unforgettable and beautiful scenery. And stunning bendy bits…
At one point I was having a break at a small shelter admiring the view over a valley when a small fire truck stopped with two firemen. As there’s a lot of forests the Greeks are rightly paranoid about forest fires so there are firemen on constant patrol. Anyway, it turns out he grew up in Australia as his parents emigrated when he was young. He came back home for national service and decided to stay. For a good half hour we put the world to rights, as Greece seems to share many of the same problems that we also have in the UK.
Shaking his hand and wishing him well I headed southwest again, through the ever changing landscape of the steep grey mountains, and deep green forests. The roads through the mountains are excellent, and for most of the day I had the roads to myself and rarely saw another car. The only niggle I had was that the tarmac on the roads is almost white, and with the sunshine and the white roads, it made my eyes water. Yes, I have a dark visor, but who wants to hide behind a visor in 32 degrees heat..?
It was around 30km before Ioannina when I start to see more cars on the roads. Coming into Ioannina at my first roundabout I nearly lost the bike on a roundabout as my tyres started to slide away from me. The tarmac was so smooth, it was like glass. After that I made sure I tippy-toed around any more roundabouts.
The campsite is just past the airport and next to Lake Pamvotida. It’s 15eu a night, with great facilities – and every pitch is overlooking the water and beneath tall trees. Tomorrow morning I have an appointment to get my tyres changed. My rear is pretty threadbare and although my front is good for more miles, I decided to have a complete change. Hopefully these new tyres will see me right for the next 6k to 8k miles. Fingers crossed.
Today has been another good day. Its been around 250kms and its taken much of the day. And if you think that Greece is all beaches and ruins, then think again. The mountains are spectacular, and if you are on two wheels they are well worth a visit. I’m here for a couple of days before heading south, probably Patras and all-points south …
